The cold wind is bleak, the winter solstice is approaching, and the winter in Bianliang is gradually decreasing.

A thin layer of ice forms on top of the river in all directions. Because of the freeze, it will not be long before it will be stopped, and although the land roads are equally spacious, the volume of transportation is not as good as that of water transportation in any case. The fresh utensils from all over the Great Song Dynasty, once they reach the frozen river, they will have to be transported in, and there are many people in Bianliang City who rely on this water transportation to eat, and it can be regarded as a loss of vitality in winter, so at this moment, the river is shuttling back and forth, busy non-stop, everyone wants to take advantage of the river before it is completely frozen, and bring more things in...... Frozen days are coming, and there is no certainty.

This is the most prosperous capital in the world, the winter scene has been more prosperous and lively than any capital city to a hundred times a thousand times, the officials in the city of Bianliang who are used to being rich and beautiful are still the people, there is no sense of the arrival of the cold winter, still brave the cold wind, sing every night in the painting boat, incense in the Buddhist temple and Taoist temple, and place a wine meeting between the pavilions and corridors.

On the Bianhe River, the fleets that came from afar crossed the Cao River, where the thin ice had just melted, and transported the fresh fruits from the south, overseas treasures, and new rice and novelty fruits one by one. How many idlers on the riverside, looking at a boat coming over, cheered, each of these boats is the circulation of wealth, are the treasures of the Great Song Dynasty and even overseas places, and are all decorations that decorate the rich atmosphere of Bianliang. Even the most unbearable citizens of Bianliang can mix wine and meat by telling these merchants that they can run errands with Helaxian fiber.

This is also exactly Zhao Hao's most regrettable place, there are no disaster victims here, no real poor people, unless people who are too lazy to cramp, but even if that kind of person is relieved, he may not get merit value......

The warm sunlight shone on the vermilion gate of Zhao's mansion, and after a while, it opened again, and two people came out, but it was Zhao Hao, Fang Baihua and Zhao Ling, as well as a few house slaves, leading the horse and slowly coming out.

There was already a carriage waiting at the door, Zhao Hao got into the carriage, Fang Baihua, Zhao Ling and others got on the horse, and the group slowly went to the west of the city.

Today is the day before the winter solstice, and it is an extraordinary day for Zhao Hao and others.

Fang La and other rebel leaders, ask for beheading today!

The group was hurrying and soon came to the Tai'an Building in the west of the city, where the pavilion had already been booked. Zhao Hao and Fang Baihua have a pavilion, and Zhao Ling and a few house slaves have a pavilion.

Both are pavilions on the top floor of the street, and when you look out of the pavilion window, you can clearly see the execution field.

Beheading was one of the means of execution in ancient times, and it was to kill the head. The so-called beheading or abandonment of the city is actually beheading, but the head of the owl refers to hanging the head on a high pole to show the public after the decapitation, and abandoning the city refers to the execution of prisoners in the downtown area. Beheadings were officially included in the code from the Qin period. After the Sui Dynasty until the Ming and Qing dynasties, the execution method was mainly beheading, and its punishment was lighter than Ling Chi and heavier than hanging.

In the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu believed that "there are four times in the sky, and the king has four politics, and the celebration, reward, punishment, and punishment correspond to spring, summer, autumn, and winter." Providence is "let virtue not be punished", "first virtue and then punishment", so it should be rewarded in spring and summer, and executed in autumn and winter, that is, "beheaded after autumn", which is generally carried out after the frost falls in autumn and before the winter solstice. Since then, the "autumn and winter executions" have been institutionalized by enshrined in the law.

The execution time of the day is generally chosen during the day, and even at night, it is necessary to wait until after dawn. The Tang and Song dynasties were mostly executed after the afternoon sunset, that is, "Tang Six Dynasties? "The execution is carried out before the day is over". The time of the sun is the beginning of the ancient 12 hours, corresponding to the modern 24 hours from 13 to 15 hours, and in winter, the sun begins to set and is close to dusk. The choice of this time should be for the sake of the deceased, so as to facilitate the death row prisoner to "save his life".

On the whole street, on both sides are the people watching the excitement, the people of the capital, born at the feet of the Son of Heaven, although not all of them are rich, but the three meals are still not worried, the Fangla uprising far away in the south of the Yangtze River, for them is too far away, I can't say whether the first Fangla uprising is in favor or against, the picture is a curiosity, a lively, like the unknown truth of the melon-eating masses in later generations.

For many years, for the first time, I saw dozens of people at one time, as the Han people who like to eat melons the most, they naturally will not let go of this opportunity to watch the excitement.

Those who do small business will naturally not let go of this opportunity to make a fortune, holding the basket while squeezing around in the crowd, while screaming: "melons and fruits, snacks, wine, bacon, seafood, mazazi, sauce duck legs, sugar gourd, sold out without ......" Many people have donated money, not only to satisfy their hunger, but also to show off.

The sound of horses' hooves, the sound of footsteps, the wheels of wheels, a group of men and horses came slowly, and Qiu Ba on the side kept driving the people to the road with knives and guns, so as not to block the road.

Zhao Hao and Fang Baihua leaned side by side against the pavilion window, Fang Baihua's eyes looked closely at the direction of the carriage and horse, but Zhao Hao wanted to use two minds, while looking downstairs, he also had to keep an eye on Fang Baihua, for fear that this aunt would jump down and shout "Keep people under the knife" to rob the law field.

Although the building is two or three feet high, I am afraid that half of my legs will be wasted if I jump down, but who knows if this little girl will have a head cramp......

Dozens of prisoner carts stretched like trains, and there were at least three or four thousand guards on both sides, all of them with bright armor, swords and guns held high, and there were also horse soldiers in the ranks, armed with bows and crossbows, condescending, eyeing the tiger.

As soon as the prisoner car arrived, more people poured out, surrounding the street on their shoulders and backs, and they didn't have any other ideas, they just wanted to see what the anti-thieves who made trouble in the whole Jiangnan looked like, whether they were three heads and six arms, green faces and fangs, and as high as two or three zhang or something like a stranger.

The speed of the prisoner cart was very slow, and there was an executioner standing on each side of the prisoner cart, and when he saw so many people, the executioner was somewhat uneasy, and put his ghost head knife on the neck of the thief. Before leaving, the Privy Council ordered that if someone wanted to hijack the prisoner's car, he could give him a big head in the blink of an eye, and correct the Fa on the spot.

The forbidden army on both sides is even more like a great enemy, and no one knows whether there are remnants of the rebels hidden among the people, and they can't eat and walk around if they lose the rebellious Qin criminals.

The people on both sides were the happiest, especially the people at the front, who were extremely excited to see the face of the thief.

Among the thieves, some people are tall and extremely burly, and some people have brains to make up for this manpower, which can win tigers and leopards, and can discount a big tree with one punch; Seeing that the thin body, there are people who have brains to make up for this person, who can call the wind and rain, scatter beans into soldiers, and so on; Especially when I saw Fang La's prisoner car, because the words "Fang La" were clearly written on it, everyone made a sensation, and everyone said that it was the reincarnation of the evil dragon......

Although the escort procession was moving forward at a rapid pace, it still escorted the prisoner cart to the execution ground that had been set up at the intersection of Shicao before noon.

The forbidden soldiers invited dozens of prisoners with shackles and anklets from the car, and divided them into two rows, one facing south and facing north, and the other facing north and south, and the two rows of people stood back to back, just waiting for the prison officer to arrive and start the operation.

All the people followed, and surrounded the Dharma field. The forbidden army in charge of the guard was very nervous, and the bows and crossbows were all aimed at the people watching the execution, and the atmosphere was extremely tense.

There was a commotion at the street corner to the east, and countless pairs of eyes looked at it, and the crowd surged.

The battalion commander in charge of security became nervous and shouted, "The warden is here!" All blocked, come out the other way! ”

The forbidden army used swords and guns to drive away the people who occupied the road, and shouted one after another: "Retreat! Back off! But the crowd didn't disperse.

However, the forbidden soldiers who guarded the prison and beheaded officials had experience, and some people raised their horsewhips and beat them on both sides, and sure enough, in addition to the miraculous effect, a passage was opened.

It was Tong Guan who came to let the supervisor behead him, but he saw this purple-robed and high-crowned man coming proudly, followed by a group of officials of all sizes, as well as a group of wolf-like forbidden soldiers, rushing to the court and sitting down on the rostrum in the east.

Fang La and the others looked calm, standing solemnly one by one, not squinting, and looking at death as home.

Above the attic, Fang Baihua's eyes were already red, her face was unpredictable, her silver teeth were clenched, and tears were only rolling in her eyes. Zhao Hao on the side was extremely nervous, his hands were ready to go, ready to pull back the woman who couldn't control her impulse to jump out of the window.

Suddenly, Fang Baihua turned her head and said to Zhao Hao: "Big brother gets up early, there must be hunger and thirst along the way, I want to send wine and food to my eldest brother, how about it?" ”

I'll go...... What are you kidding, are you an idiot, you little, wait for half an hour and no one will be gone, what do you care about hunger and thirst......

However, Zhao Hao knew that it would not make sense to reason with Fang Baihua at this time, and if he accidentally stimulated her, he might jump off......

Zhao Hao said lightly: "If you go in person, the Holy Father will definitely be worried, and he will not be at ease temporarily...... As for the food and drinks, I'll arrange it myself. ”

After speaking, he stretched out his hand and pointed at it, and suddenly there was a woman in armor and a long sword at her waist in the pavilion.

"The last general, Mulan, meet the Lord!"

The heroine Hua Mulan, with a force of 86, has a pretty face, but she is not a beautiful woman, her whole body exudes a heroic spirit, but she is somewhat similar to Fang Baihua.

Zhao Hao ignored Fang Baihua, who was stunned, frowned, and said in a deep voice: "Take off your armor and long sword."

Hua Mulan said that she obeyed, quickly took off her armor, abandoned her long sword, and appeared in front of Zhao Hao in civilian clothes.

Zhao Hao asked the store for a large basket of wine and food and handed it to Mulan.

After a while, downstairs in Tai'an, there was already a tall woman in red, carrying a large bamboo basket filled with wine and food, and walked towards the dense crowd outside the court.

Seeing that the three layers of the crowd were blocking the way, as soon as Mulan's ape arm stretched, the dense crowd was separated by her and forcibly squeezed in.

Fang Baihua, who was leaning on the attic window, was dumbfounded and speechless.